What We Could Have Been
by GFNatalie12
Summary: "We could have been anything. Lovers. Partners. A team, even. But I blew it. And I will certainly never stop having those dreams. The dreams of what we could have been." Post Phantom Planet, Valerie deals with the angst of Danny and Sam's relationship. One-shot. Rated K because that's the lowest it will go. Reviews are greatly appreciated :)


**Hey guys, I'm Natalie! First of all, thanks for clicking on my one-shot! I really loved both the Danny/Valerie shipping and the Danny/Sam shipping, so this kind of revolves around both. Post Phantom Planet, this is the angst Valerie goes through regarding Danny and Sam being a couple. Enjoy!**

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We could have been anything. Lovers. Partners. A team, even. But I blew it.

How could I have been so stupid, so blind?! I should have never let him go. Now it was too late.

I could spend my whole life crying over this. I think he was the only person I ever felt really in love with. I had dated before, but that was back when I was just as shallow as Paulina or Star. Dating was just a game then, when girls grabbed any guy they considered "hot" just to be able to flaunt him around. But with him, it was different.

Even if I unknowingly hunted one side of him, I still have feelings for him after all of this. I probably always will.

I had always assumed that Danny Phantom was an evil ghost. My opinion changed the night I helped him save his cousin from Plasmius, who I learned to be Vlad Masters later on. He was willing to put himself at risk to help his cousin. And heck, if he cared that much for someone, then how bad could he have been?

When I found out that Vlad Masters was actually an evil ghost who had been using me to do his bidding, it kind of removed all doubt. Of course he had been tricking me into thinking Phantom was the bad guy, how else could he convince me to do his deeds for him?

I couldn't believe it. My ghost hunting mentor had just transformed himself into the evil ghost we fought moments ago right before my very eyes. I was almost too shocked to hear what he said next, the words that would echo through my mind for a long time to come. "For a smart girl, she's very easily led." I had been choosing the wrong sides. He had turned me into an evil apprentice and I didn't even know it. I felt low in that moment, I was too stupid to realize that I was being tricked.

I was the girl with good intentions who was following the wrong crowd. My cluelessness led me to choose the dark side without my own knowledge, while endangering those around me, and almost annihilating the real hero in the situation. What if I had succeeded? This planet wouldn't even be here right now. Earth would be gone, and it would be my fault. But that wasn't all Vlad had cost me by tricking me.

In him tricking me into thinking Danny was the bad guy, I had been hunting him without knowing that it was the guy I liked. I broke up with him because I didn't want him to get hurt. I was trying to protect him from himself. That was too ironic, but I wasn't finding it funny in the least. Now he was with someone else, and all because I was dumb enough to lose him.

I wouldn't want any downfall between them, though. Personally, if Danny has to be with anyone else, I'm glad it's Sam. And if they make each other happy, then what more could I ask for when it comes to someone I love? And if he can't be happy with me, then him just being happy is enough for me.

At least I always had him as a friend, for better or for worse. It probably wouldn't help my feelings any, but I hadn't lost him, that much was good. Halfway was alright for me.

Still, I couldn't have the sinking feeling in my stomach as I recounted everything about him that I had always liked. His hair, the way his eyes lit up when he smiled, how he was the first person in that school to actually care about her. He had been friends with me, and even a little more than that at one point, even while I was hunting his ghost form. I lost him, nobody else was responsible for what I had done.

I could spend my whole life crying over him, but I'd move on and force a smile for his sake and mine, and to mask the hurt I felt inside. Maybe it would never go away, because the truth was the truth. And for the first time in a long time, the truth was perfectly clear, and I realized the truth that, for once, numbed me instead of hurting me.

We could have been anything. Lovers. Partners. A team, even. But I blew it.

And I can pretend to be okay, and I can force as many smiles as I want, but I know what my heart is going to feel.

I don't think I can ever shake the feelings I have right now. And I will certainly never stop having those dreams.

The dreams of what we could have been.

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**Thanks for reading my one-shot! It's my first time writing anything on this website, so tell me how I did in a review please! Thank you! :)**


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